IKARO STEAKHOUSE — Restaurant in City of Middletown

Although I don’t always have good experiences when going out, I can’t remember the last time I had an experience bad enough to write a review about it. First, we had reservations for 3pm but were given lunch menus that end by 3pm. After questioning the waitress about it, she assured us it was still okay to order from the lunch menu since dinner doesn’t start until 5pm. However, after we placed our orders for parmesan chicken salads, it took the waitress an additional 10 minutes to tell us that it wouldn’t be available as an option because it was past 3pm! Precisely what we tried to avoid in the beginning!! At that point, after bringing the dinner menu, we selected the organic roasted chicken and requested baby broccoli in place of the puréed carrots. When the meals arrived, there were baby carrots instead of the baby broccoli we requested from the menu. Then I realized my chicken was not thoroughly cooked because blood dripped out as soon as I started cutting into it! The waitress apologized and took it away but before she had a chance to replace it along with the missing baby broccoli to go with it, my spouse was done eating her chicken WITHOUT the broccoli and our 2 other guests were done with their meals also. At that point, I told her not to bother bringing out my meal or the broccoli. As a small local business owner myself, I understand that sometimes mistakes can and will occur and not to judge a person or an establishment for imperfections and errors but instead, how they handle it. We remained cordial and respectful throughout. However, what made this experience inexcusable was the fact that the restaurant was not busy and management was aware of the series of issues as they were arising but COMPLETELY IGNORED the situation. Management NEVER stepped in to assist the waitress or apologize for any of the problems we were experiencing. Any decent and professional restaurant manager that understands the importance of their position in protecting and preserving the reputation of the restaurant and values their customers, would have at least come over and acknowledged the situation and make a sincere effort to make it better. We didn’t expect free drinks or dessert but instead a compassionate apology as a sincere and respectful gesture of accepting responsibility for the mistakes. Instead, they added insult to injury by bringing the check which had their mandatory 20% gratuity added to the bill for the terrible service we received. Absolutely unacceptable experience and I will never return even if offered a complimentary meal. To clarify, I don’t hold anything against the waitress for the honest mistakes and matters outside her control. It was apparent she felt bad about the situation and I accepted her sincere apology. As far as management, it was apparent they didn’t care at all. Despite appearances, this place clearly...

Sadly all of the good reviews seem to be from when this was called “Sugar Shack factory,” and for brunch. We came recently as IKARO restaurant for dinner. Maybe the brunch is it, but dinner service Definately isn’t.

For the high price point ($20 entrees, $16 appetizers) the experience was very disappointing to say the least. Tons of kitchen issues. We waited just over an hour for relatively simple food. We honestly almost left. The restaurant tables (mostly empty bar seating) were filled except two and most of them already had food by the time we ordered so I’m not sure the reason for the delay. None was provided.

As far as food quality it was disappointing honestly, which is saying something since we were all starving.

The fried items were not throughly cooked (very soft French fries), nor was the carbonara which had bits of raw egg remaining throughout the dish somehow? We also ordered the short rib bolognese and there was no evidence of an actual bolognese sauce, only what tasted like plain tomato sauce. The sauces with both pastas lacked any depth of flavor, and tasted perhaps off the supermarket shelf and jarred. I genuinely feel no foundational cooking technique was used and that I could have made the pasta dishes better myself at home.

As for extras, adding shrimp to a dish was $10 extra, but it is not worth it as it seemed to come without any seasoning off the grill which was disappointing as well.

Our last issues were in terms of user interface. We were a party of 5, so they automatically added 20% gratuity, but this wasn’t disclosed anywhere.

They then have a QR code system via toast app, which you can pay and split the bill, but be please don’t use it because despite the included gratuity, the app automatically adds additional tip and 15% in service charges which we couldn’t tell if it was charged just for using their app or forcing even more additional gratuity.

So disappointed, For around $50 per person Middletown simply has better cooking. Oak and Reed is around the corner, similarly priced, and their kitchen is always on point.

The ambiance and decor were nice, we came on a Saturday night when there was live music; one thing to note is that the volume was very loud, and restaurant acoustics totally amplify it so talking through dinner is difficult. This place had a nice cocktail list, so maybe after dinner drinks and listening to music is the reason to come here. Dinner service Definately isn’t.

For $50/pp please save your hard earned money for a better experience elsewhere for now. Hope IKARO can get...

I hate leaving bad reviews but this experience warrants it unfortunately.

A series of mistakes that ended in an overall terrible experience. I am a huge supporter of local but I will not be recommending this restaurant anymore.

The server didn’t understand English very well so there were moments of having to translate and point to the menu. We had a 3pm reservation. She hands us lunch menus that clearly states ends at 3pm. So I ask her for the dinner menu and she replied that dinner does not begin until 5pm. So what exactly is 3pm-5pm called? She said we could order from either menu. Confusing but ok.

We ordered Parmesan Chicken Salad (found in the lunch menu not the dinner menu) she brings out our appetizers and perhaps after an additional 10 minutes she informs us the salad was no longer available. The time is 3:30pm. Our dining guests at this point have been served their dinner so we scrambled to make another selection from the dinner menu. We decided on the $29 Rotisserie Chicken but we asked to sub the carrot puree for baby broccoli. We thought she understood. 15 minutes later we are served Chicken with baby carrots. We explained the error but she insisted we ordered baby carrots. She offered to get us baby broccoli as a side. One of chicken dishes was undercooked so we return it. She then brings out over steamed broccolini. At this point everyone else had finished their dinner so we send the broccolini back and tell her to forget the chicken.

So we are hungry and just annoyed. Now comes insult to injury. The bill included a mandatory 20% gratuity. 20%?! For incompetence. What happened to the customer deciding the percentage? The service and the lack of food definitely did not deserve 20%

Even good places can have off days because nobody’s perfect. The biggest issue is how they handled the problem. Not once did the manager come over to our table. The least could have done is brought us free drinks and/or desserts as a courtesy from management. Nothing was offered to make up for the series of mishaps. The pathetic sorry offered by the server lacked substance.

Management was aware but chose to ignore the issue because they obviously didn’t care. Then they add insult to injury by having the audacity to require a 20% tip.

Totally inconsiderate and unconscionable. The details of the experience warrant them to be exposed in a review for how terrible they handled the situation. We left hungry, annoyed and frustrated.

Save your money. Go...